Lack of technology caused Baba Suwe incident – NDLEA

Baba Suwe

Lack of upscale technology at  the nation’s airport caused the furore between Nollywood actor, Babatunde Omidina, aka Baba Suwe and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in 2012, NDLEA Director General, Mr. Olufemi Ajayi, has said.

Ajayi said this in Lagos on Wednesday during a lecture on the role of the agency in national security and sustainable development, at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Lagos in Victoria Island.

Omidina was in 2011, detained for 24 days by the agency, on the suspicion that he ingested hard drug.

The director general said, “Look at the incident the NDLEA had with Baba Suwe last year; it happened because the agency still uses the profiling method in its operations at the airports.

“I cannot blame the NDLEA operatives who singled out Baba Suwe; they were doing their jobs. I cannot blame the journalists who reported the stories; they were also doing their jobs. However, the reality is that if there is a general screening machine at the airport for drugs, there will be no need for profiling. All we need do is to make use of the machines.”

Ajayi also listed insufficient manpower and funding as one of the problems besetting the agency. He said, “The total workforce of the NDLEA, all over the country, is 5,300 persons, including our airports. Sometimes, our airport operatives have to work round the clock in order to keep our society drug-free.

“The fight against drugs is a shared responsibility and should not be left to the NDLEA alone. I urge members of the Rotary Club to assist the agency in canvassing for sufficient funds and equipment.”

He also lamented the increased conversion of arable farmlands in Ekiti State and other neighbouring states to cannabis farms.

 Ajayi said, “The demand for cannabis in our society is driving farmers to cultivate the drugs instead of cocoa and other cash crops.

“A 50 kilogramme decompressed bag of cannabis sells for N100,000 whereas a 50kg bag of rice sells for N10,000. Definitely, the farmers will be inclined to cultivate the crop that is more profitable.”

President of the Rotary Club, Mr. Gbolahan Ayodele, commended Ajayi for the lecture.

He criticised the continued harassment of airline passengers at the airports, stressing that it was a practice peculiar to Nigeria alone.

Ayodele said, “It is only in Nigeria’s airports that people and their luggage get searched in the name of drug detection to the extent that we also have to remove our shoes – it is embarrassing. It doesn’t happen anywhere else.”


Read more: http://www.punchng.com/news/lack-of-technology-caused-baba-suwe-incident-ndlea/